Month: June 2017

Today is designated as Social Media Day. Facebook launched in 2003 and is a large part of social media and one of the social media avenues that I chose back in 2010 to use try to reach the 18th century reenacting world for Jesus.

Since then our 18th Century Bibles page and our 18th Century Parson page has helped launch and equip several of you to go out to events to preach, pass out period religious pamphlets, share you period Bibles, books, and most importantly Jesus. We now have about 537 members on our 18th Century Parson page and over 2,400 followers of our 18th Century Bibles page.

You can help achieve this goal of using social media and in particular Facebook to reach others for Jesus by sharing our posts every time that you see one. Hopefully, your other Facebook friends will continue the “chain” and share them again and again. However; only a handful of you are sharing our posts on a regular basis. We really need your help to reach our reenactor friend. Please share our post.

Please visit our 18th Century Bibles page on FaceBook at the following link:

See Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 14 below from our 1782 Robert Aitken “Bible of the Revolution”.

I first heard the song “Dust in the Wind” in 1978 while listening to my new Kansas album “Point of Return”. When I got through the “Dust in the Wind” track, I immediately thought of the book of Ecclesiastes. I should have been depressed or at least consider my life and its end, but no. The wisdom did not sink in. It was not my time. It seems that band member, Kerry Livgern, who wrote the lyric for “Dust in the Wind”, was searching for God during the writing of this song. Seven years later, in 1980, he became an Evangelical Christin. I did in 1985, although I am not sure what Evangelical means. You should listen to this 8 minutes 41 second interview with him discussing his search for God from the age of 9, thru high school, and during his time in the band, at the following link:

Lyrics to “Dust in the Wind”:

I close my eyes only for a moment, and the moment’s gone All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind

Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind

Now, don’t hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky It slips away, and all your money won’t another minute buy

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind (all we are is dust in the wind) Dust in the wind (everything is dust in the wind), everything is dust in the wind (the wind)

You might also enjoy the group Kansas singing “Dust in the Wind” which was based on Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 14, “Everything he has accomplished is futile — like chasing the wind!” as well other parts of Ecclesiastes and the book of Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, at the following link: Enjoy this song! I did.

Livgern obviously had not been reading Aitken’s version of Ecclesiastes when he wrote “Dust in the Wind”, but his lyrics look like he was reading or hearing a more modern version such as the NIV, aka “The New International Version”. The NIV Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 14 reads, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 reads, “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verse 20 reads, “All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. After listening to Livgern interview, I believe that he may have just picked up these concepts from living during our permeating Jesus Movement culture of the 60s & 70s.

Jim Darlack & I hope to have this Aitken’s 1782 Bible ready to publish in the next few months. We have it already scanned and are just cleaning up the pages.

To learn more and to watch our work, please visit our web page at the following link:

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This Day in History: June 17th, 1775 The Battle of Bunker Hill, the bloodiest battle of the American Revolution took place.

One hundred Colonials were killed and 3oo were wounded. It has been 242 years since this battle and every one that participated are long gone. But we still have a witness. Sergeant Francis Merrifield (1735-1814) carried his pocket size King James Bible into battle that day and his Bible still survives. You can see his Bible below and read more about him and his Bible at the following link:

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This is an original Robert Aitken bookplate. James Darlack cleaned up the original image and turned it black & white for printing. You will find this image on our Aitken Bible and New Testament web pages and maybe even in our Aitken replicas.

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This is The Lord’s Prayer with period musical notation that I scanned from our original 1697 John Playford Psalm & Hymn book, aka The Whole Book of Psalms With The Usual Hymns and Spiritual Songs. With all the Ancient and Proper Tunes sung in Churches, with some of the Later Use. Composed in Three Parts, Cantus, Medius, & Bassus: In a more Plain and Useful Method than hath been formerly Published. This book was used during the 18th century in the Churches.

You may purchase one of my two remaining Playford Psalters on my Etsy page at this following link:

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Listen to Psalm 23 being sung by Quire Cleveland under Artistic Director Ross W. Duffin, singing at Historic St. Peter’s Church in downtown Cleveland. This is a 1 minute, 37 second YouTube video. Enjoy!
“The earliest version of the Bay Psalm Book to include actual music was the ninth edition of 1698, with the settings there taken from the (musical notation that was in the) 1671 Psalms & Hymns (book) of John Playford. For Psalm 23 (as with the other psalms), the Bay Psalm Book just prints the tune (in this case, Canterbury) with Playford’s bass line, but in fact, Playford’s setting (musical notation) is for four voices, and that is what (this group) have used as the ‘implied’ harmonization.”

I make replicas of both the 1640 Bay Psalm Book, aka The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre. Whereunto is prefixed a discourse declaring not only the lawfulness, but also the necessity of the heavenly Ordinance of singing Scripture Psalmes in the Churches of God and John Playford’s 1697 Psalter, The Whole Book of Psalms With The Usual Hymns and Spiritual Songs. With all the Ancient and Proper Tunes sung in Churches, with some of the Later Use. Composed in Three Parts, Cantus, Medius, & Bassus: In a more Plain and Useful Method than hath benn formerly Published.

You can purchase my last Bay Psalm book on my Etsy page at the following link:

“The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth, and with my song will I praise him.” Psalm 28:7 You can find this 1715 Psalm toward the back of our full size 1733 New Testament. www.18thcenturybibles.org/1733-new-testament

“He is my shield and fortitude, my buckler in distress. My heart rejoyceth greatly, and my song shall him confess”. You can find this 1720 Psalm toward the back of our pocket size 1733 New Testament. www.18thcenturybibles.org/1733-new-testament

The 1715 Psalms reads: “The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth, and with my song will I praise him.” You can find this Psalm in our 1715 Old Testament. www.18thcenturybibles.org/1733-bible

In our 1734 Book of Common Prayer, Psalm 28:7 reads entirely differently. “The Lord is my strength, and my shield, my heart hath trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart danceth for joy, and in my song will I praise him.” www.18thcenturybibles.org/book-of-common-prayer

Our original 1734 Book of Common Prayer came with another book of Psalms in the back that we are in the process of scanning and cleaning up. Psalm 28:7 in this original 1735 Sternhold & Hopkins Psalms reads, “He is my shield and fortitude, my buckler in distress: My heart rejoiceth greatly, and my song shall him confess”. www.18thcenturybibles.org/book-of-common-prayer

Our replica of the original 1640 Bay Psalm Book reads: “God is my strength, my shield, in him my heart did trust, & helpt I was: Therefore my heart will gladnes shew, and with my song I’le him confesse.” This is from our replica of the “The Whole Booke of Psalmes…”, aka The Bay Psalm Book. www.18thcenturybibles.org/1640-bay-psalm-book